Argus

Water Monitoring with Sensors inside Living Plants

Argus is a living plant that continuously monitors water for heavy metal impurities using nanosensors inside its leaves. These sensors are injected into the leaves and stay within the intercellular space. A living plant continuously samples water from its environment and any impurities that come along with it. This method of detecting heavy metal toxicity is effective in real time, and demonstrates a visible output in as little as 15 minutes, in contrast to current lab methods which take days or weeks.

JURY STATEMENT

"Argus uses live plants to detect heavy metal water pollution. Although this can also be achieved using sophisticated instruments, this design is more speculative and inspiring, reminding us of the need to respect the natural environment."

WINNER STATEMENT

Super happy and humbled to find that Argus has won the iF Design Talent Award! Such recognition will enable this project to create further impact in the world and to gain visibility in the unseen avenues.

UNIVERSITY

The University of Tokyo

Tokyo, JP

WINNER

Harpreet Sareen

The University of Tokyo